After The Half Blood Prince
by Amandah Leigh
Summary: This fic, which obviously takes place after book six but was written preDH, is ADMM because they're the best ship to sail! If you have not finished 6, don't read this until you do. Please read and review. NOW COMPLETE!
1. After The Half Blood Prince

**HP 6 SPOILER ALERT**

**WARNING!**

**This fic contains MEGA SPOILERS!**

**DO NOT READ if you have not finished the Half-Blood Prince!**

**You Have Been WARNED!**

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"After The Half-Blood Prince."

ADMM

Author's Notes:

1. In the book, when Minerva McGonagall and Harry go into the office, Dumbledore's portrait is on the wall. We, for the sake of fiction, are going to pretend that those few lines on page 626 never happened. Okay? Okay.

2. While thisstory can be read all by itself, I make reference to the past, which can be explained in my lengthier ADMM fic. I have decided to just use that one to lead up to this, and maybe even tie my other one-shot and my two chapter fic into it as well... But you didn't really need to know that ;)

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It was August second, at approximately 3:42 PM, when Minerva McGonagall decided it was time to clean out the Headmaster's office. Of course she should be the one to do it, the staff decided shortly after the murder, she was his Deputy, his right hand, his friend.

But she was more than that. She was way more than that to him, and he meant far more to her than any boss, colleague or friend. And now he was gone.

She shuddered as she entered his office. "No," shethought regretfully, "I suppose it's my office now."

Though she knew that she had a job to do, she did not feel as if she belonged in that room at all, no matter who's office it technically was, notknowing that he would never again be in it with her. Never again would she interrupt his paperwork. Never again would she say "No, thank you," when offered a Lemon Drop. Never again would they sit in these very chairs – she ran her hand over the fine wood back of one of them – and play a sporting good game of chess. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Dammit, Albus!" She said aloud. "You were always so trusting…Always so…"

"Always so what, my dear?" A voice answered her, and she jumped. She knew that voice; knew it well, but how…?

"Albus? How…why…Are you a ghost?" She stammered, her green eyes darting around the room. Had she imagined the voice?

"No, you did not imagine my voice," said he, and she gasped.

"The you really are…What? Albus?"

She heard him laugh, but still she saw no one. His voice seemed to be coming from a pile of boxes in one corner of the room, she had not noticed them before, but she was too shocked and afraid to move toward them.

"I have been waiting for you to come, Minerva."

The tears she'd been holding back suddenly could not be stalled any longer, and sobbing she fell into the chair she used to frequently occupy during chess matches.

"Am I dying? Oh, Albus, we'll be together again!"

"You are not dying, Minerva. You are very much alive, and you must promise me you'll stay alive, if not for yourself and for the students and friends who love you, but for me. I'm not ready for you to join me beyond yet, my dear."

Breathing deeply, she felt oddly calmer. His voice often had that effect on her, but usually the impact of his words was accompanied by his caring, twinkling blue eyes, comforting smile and strong, familiar arms wrapped around her…

"I really do not understand, Albus. I am not imaging you. You are not a ghost. I am not dying. Then how…?"

"Shall we give her a hit, everyone?" He asked, and Phineas replied with a snort.

"I always thought she was one of the smart ones," he said, roiling his eyes.

"You're a…Your portrait? You're a portrait! Oh, Albus, but where…?"

"Oho!" said he, and she smiled for the first time in Merlin-only-knows how long. "Took you long enough, now would you be ever so kind as to get these boxes away from me? I've had the most unpleasant view for weeks now.

"Oh, Albus!" Minerva jumped up from her seat and unceremoniously pulled the boxes away from the wall, to reveal the portrait of Albus leaning against said wall.

"Hello again, Minerva," he said, smiling at her.

Her eyes welled with tears again and she lightly ran her fingers down the right side of the painting. "Hello, again, Albus."

"Do me a favor and hang me up, Min?" he requested, and she nodded. After the portrait was in its rightful place on the wall she stood back to take in the sight.

"I can't tell you how much I've missed you, Albus Dumbledore," said she, wiping away the last of her tears.

"And I, you!" said he. "Tell me, how is Harry doing? And the Weasley's, is everyone alright? And Miss Granger...All the students...Did anyone else, the Dark Mark...Have you heard anything about Draco Malfoy, or..."

"Please, Albus! One thing at a time!" she laughed, rolling her eyes at him. "Sometime you are so like a child, Albus! You forget how old..." Her voice trailed off, as her smile disapeared.

"Ah, but I will age no longer, Minerva. Do not look so very distraught, it might be better this way. Think of it, eventually, you will surpass me in age. And you will no longer be able to call me a miserable old coot, for I can retort, "Miserable, perhaps, but not as old as you, Minerva!"

"Always looking for the bright side, are you Albus?" She turned the chair around and sat, facing him. It was just like having one of their frequent, regular conversations. How she had missed this! They might even be able to play chess again, she could move his pawns for him...

"But you'll cheat." said he, and her eyes widened. "You can still...even without being..."

"No," he answered her unasked question. "But I saw you looking from me to the chess board."

"I will have to watch myself around you, Albus Dumbledore. You know me too well."

He laughed and replied in a slighlty suggestive tone, "Indeed, I do."

"Stop it, you! You're making me blush!" A knock in the dorr interrupted them then, and both sighed.

"How many times have we been interrupted bysomeone knocking on the door?" asked he, remembering a couple of particular times long ago when interruption had been most...inopprtune.

Her voice was soft as she, too, recalled those instances. "Too many times, you miserable old coot," she replied lightly, with a chuckle. The person or persons in the hall knocked again.

"You had better get that," said Albus, and Minerva stood to do so. But before she did, he called her back.

"Minerva McGonagall," he said, smiling at her. "I love you."

She nodded and stepped closer to the portrait, ignoring the eyes, whistles and grins of the other former heads of Hogwarts. And in a whisper she answered, "I love you too, Albus."

**END**

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A/N I had this idea while I was reading (after chapter 27 I had to stop and sob for awhile, so I had a few moments to think). In chapter 29 he is asleep in his portrait, which is above the desk, but as I had already decided to make a little fic of this scenario, I pretended that didn't happen…

I don't know about you all, but I keep hoping that this is a cruel, cruel joke and the real book 6 will be released any day now (sigh). But I don't think that's likely, so in the meantime, I will go back to my Thrice The Tabby Cat… story, which, luckily, takes place long enough ago that I don't need to think about chapter 27 of the Half-Blood Prince again for a long, long time.

Thanks for reading! (and please review)

AL


	2. The Person At The Door

After The Half-Blood Prince, Chapter Two

The Person At The Door

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Minerva took a couple of deep breaths to compose herself before opening the door. She wasn't expecting to see anyone in particular, but she was especially not expecting to see…

"Harry Potter?"

The boy nodded and ran his hand though his hair much the way his father used to.

"Professor, I'm sorry to bother you during the summer, but I was wondering, maybe…"

"Yes, Potter?" She had not seen the boy sine Bill and Fleur's wedding a month before and she was surprised to see how much older he looked already.

"I need some advice, I suppose. No, more than that. I just need…to talk to…someone. Someone who knew…him."

She took another deep breath and gestured for him to enter. "Would you rather speak to him yourself, Potter?"

Harry stopped walking and swiveled around to face the Transfiguration professor. "What?"

"Hello, Harry." Harry's eyes, like Minerva's had upon hearing Dumbledore's voice, filled with tears. Minerva felt the sudden urge to hug him, but she refrained, afraid to embarrass the child. 'No,' she reminded herself. 'The adult. He's seventeen.'

"Professor…Dumbledore?" asked Harry, gazing at the portrait. "I didn't even think…it never occurred to me to… You're _here_."

"Don't feel bad, Harry. You weren't the only one who never thought to look for my portrait," replied Albus, grinning at Minerva.

"Oh, shut it." She said quietly. She conjured up a comfortable chair a few feet from the portrait and motioned for Harry to have a seat. Minerva then settled herself on the edge of his desk – her desk – and folded her hands in her lap.

Albus looked from her to Harry, and back at her again. "You do not mind if Professor McGonagall stays for this talk, Harry?"

"No, sir. Maybe she can… help?" answered the boy, fidgeting.

"What do you need help with, Harry?" asked Albus, leaning so far forward that Minerva almost expected his nose to protrude right through the canvas.

Harry shrugged. "I…don't know. Hermione, Ron and I are staying at headquarters right now. It was Hermione's idea… That locket, sir, that was not the right locket."

"I know, Harry. I know. Have you figured out…"

"Ron did, actually, and Hermione was jealous she didn't get it first." Harry smiled for the first time since he'd arrived back at Hogwarts. "We had it all along, sir. Fifth year, when we were cleaning up Sirius' house, we found the locket and it wouldn't open. We had it all along."

"Merlin, Albus! Is that true? The Horcrux was, all the time, it was…" Her voice trailed off when she saw the look Harry was giving her.

"You know about the Horcrux's?" He demanded to know. "You knew all along?"

"I knew only that you-know-who had split his soul several times… He preserved himself in that diary. In that ring… Albus, your hand!"

He held his arm up for all to see. "Just fine."

She smiled softly. "I'm glad." Turning back to Harry she explained, "I didn't know that the locket was one until I saw it in the Pensieve, after Albus…After Professor Dumbledore had been… I wanted to know where the two of you had been, before… I saw… Well, continue you talk, Potter. You needed advice?"

Harry and the former Headmaster talked for another hour or so, and Minerva listened (and occasionally contributed, in addition to consoling Harry a couple of times when emotion overtook him and Albus was unable to come to his aid). After some time passed, Harry turned to Minerva and asked whether she would mind leaving the room for a bit. "I really need to speak to Professor Dumbledore alone, please?" he explained, and she understood.

"I'll be back in thirty minutes, will that be alright?" she asked, and it was. She locked eyes with Albus for a moment before exiting, and felt herself tearing up again. She left and shut the door behind her, and wondered where to go next. She decided to simply walk about the castle, thinking, trying to clear her head.

"He's back," she thought happily, and yet she could not shake the sadness she also felt. "He's back, but he's not… I can speak to him, yes, but I will never again feel him. He will never hug me, never run his fingers ever so lightly over the scars from the stunners, never gently kiss me goodnight… I can speak to him, yes, but I will still have to sleep alone, every night until I… It's almost like a tease," she thought bitterly. "I will spend my days chatting with him, but when night falls, I am really alone." Suddenly Minerva collapsed in the hall, overcome with grief and the hard, painful sobs that she could no longer hold back. For perhaps ten minutes she cried alone, and she did not hear footsteps approaching. Someone reached down and touched her shoulder, and her body tensed up. She looked up to see who it was that had joined her, and her crying eyes met those of the boy who lived; he was also in tears.

He knelt down beside her and for several minutes neither of them spoke. "If you would like to come to dinner, sometime, Professor," Harry said quietly after some time, "Send an owl ahead, and Hermione, Ron and I will be there… that is, if you'd want to. And maybe, sometimes, I could come here and visit you? Both of you?"

She nodded, finally starting to compose herself. "I'd like that very much, Potter… Harry. I'd better get back to my office now, there is much paperwork to do. We've decided to open the school after all. If even one student decided to attend… I know that you and Miss…that you and Hermione and Ron have much to do, Harry, but if you return to Hogwarts… I made a promise to make you an Auror, Potter. And I promised Miss. Granger that she would be an animagus. And I daresay Molly Weasley will not be too keen on another one of her children neglecting to finish his education."

"We have to destroy him, Professor," said Harry, seriously, then remembering her promise to Delores Umbridge over a year earlier with a small smile, he added "But perhaps we can come back sometimes, and you can work with us a little? Of, if we can… if we succeed before the year is out, if we might return? It is difficult to think of the future past … this. But…"

Their conversation was interrupted then by a large snowy owl, Hedwig, swooping down the corridor and landing on Harry's left shoulder. He took the scroll from her leg and read it. "I am sorry, Professor, but I'm wanted back at headquarters. Ginny is…she came to visit me." He blushed, and Minerva chuckled.

"Go see Miss. Weasley, then, Potter. I shall see you soon, though, to take you up on your offer of dinner, alright?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Well… Goodbye then." He took a miniature broom from his pocket and whispered a few words; it became his trusty Firebolt, which he climbed on and took off.

"Goodbye, Harry," she whispered as he flew around the corner. She turned, whipped the tears from her cheeks and began the walk back to her office. She had someone waiting for her there. And she wanted to speak with him again.

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A/N

Okay, a lot less ADMM here, but some people wanted to know who was at the door! The next (and final) chapter will be a bit lighter, fluffy, even, and be all about the ADMM … so … stay tuned! And please review! Thanks!

AL


	3. The Whole Story

After the Half-Blood Prince: Chapter Three:

The Whole Story

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"Are you feeling alright, Minerva?" Albus asked (or rather, the portrait of Albus asked) when she returned to the office.

"Honestly? No." She sighed. "I am still in shock, I think, and sometimes I wonder if it was all just a bad dream, and maybe none of it ever happened? But I know that it's stupid to pretend…"

"It does not due to dwell on dreams, Minerva." He said slowly.

"And forget to live," she finished for him. "But what kind of living is this, Albus? I…I'm not all that sure that I want to live, without you."

"And yet you will," he argued. "You will go on and help the students as be there for them, for Harry Potter and Hermione Granger and the Weasley children and Neville Longbottom, and you will be there for Susan Bones, and the Patil twins and all the new first years, and you will be there for Pansy Parkinson and Gregory Goyle and…stop shaking your head, Minerva…and Marietta Edgecomb and Colin Creevy and Draco Malfoy."

"No. No, not him, not Malfoy."

"He needs you, Minerva."

"He needs to be locked in Azkaban."

Albus shook his head slowly. "Minerva, there is something you have to know. About Draco. And about Severus."

"Do not speak that man's name to me."

"I asked him to kill me, Minerva."

Her eyes filled with tears again and she sank into the chair opposite Dumbledore's portrait.

"You didn't."

"I did. I told him that under no circumstances could he show his true alliances, and the pact he made with Narcissa would not allow him to ,let Draco kill me. I spoke to him before I left with Harry that night, Minerva."

"You…no, Albus. You do not need to cover for him anymore. He is allied with He-who…with Voldemort only."

"I told him I was going, Minerva. I told him what I was about to do."

Suddenly Minerva's distress turned to anger. "You told him you were leaving? So that is why he knew…he knew when to tell them to come."

"He did not. Draco arranged that, quite cleverly too, from what I overhear."

"Then he told Malfoy you would be gone! Albus, please…"

"I know that is what you want to hear, Minerva, but be realistic, please. Do you not think that I, even in such a weakened state, could not have stunned Draco Malfoy or even killed Severus Snape, even without my wand? Minerva… You were there, when I defeated Grindelwald, and that was years ago…"

"You just let yourself leave me?" She asked weakly, all the anger fluttering away and leaving her with a sense of confusion and despair.

"I did not want to, Minerva, but I had to think about the greater good…"

"Harry was the greater good! The students, the rest of them, not just one! What about me, Albus, wasn't I part of the 'greater good?'"

"I love you, Minerva, and I always will. But I am gone now, as much as we both hate it, and you are not. Do me one favour, Minerva?"

"What is it, Albus, love?"

"Stay alive, and strong, and help Harry and watch over the students until Tom is really gone, help rebuild Hogwarts and its reputation until it is the school it once was, until people again have their faith in Hogwarts, until all four houses can be properly united. Keep going on until one day, one night, of old age you die peacefully in your sleep. And before you do, have your portrait done, so that you, former Hogwarts Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, can be settled here right next to me, so that no matter whether we spend our time in this world or the next, we can spend it together. And forgive me for the choices I made."

Minerva nodded, wiping her tears. She stood, and walked slowly to his portrait. She lightly kissed her forefinger, and held it a moment against the canvas, against his cheek.

"I love you, Albus. And I forgive you. Forever."

THE END

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Well, I finally finished one that wasn't a one-shot! lolol. I hope you liked it, and whether or not you did, please leave me a review and critique!

Thanks!

AL


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